Ice

Andvord Bay, ANTARCTICA

Glaciers flowing from the Laussedat Heights accelerate as they flow into the sea, causing them to become increasingly broken with crevasses.

Arched Iceberg, Gerlache Strait, ANTARCTICA

Natural arches form in icebergs as they erode. Although stunningly beautiful, they are extremely unstable and I have seen many collapse without warning.

D-Urville Island, ANTARCTICA

When large icebergs congregate they are often often caught on the bottom. Brought in by strong currents, they are trapped here until they are either blown out or they erode sufficiently to become dislodged.

Growler, Greenwich Island, SOUTH SHETLAND ISLANDS

As icebergs break apart and erode they form smaller chunks of ice. Those that are larger than the size of a car are known as bergy bits, smaller ones, such as this, are called growlers, from the sound that they make as they grate along the sides of ships.

Iceberg Cruising, Cierva Cove, ANTARCTICA

Over 90% of an iceberg lies under water. As they are constantly eroding they regularly overturn, like a football blowing across a lake. And when they do, these feet of ice under water can suddenly rocket out of the water. Consequently, we give icebergs a good distance when viewing them!

Iceberg Flutings, ANTARCTICA

Below water erosion of icebergs releases bubbles trapped in the ice, and as these escape they rush to the surface, acting like sand-paper to erode channels and flutings.

Iceberg graveyard, Pleneau Island, ANTARCTICA

This iceberg has recently tilted at an angle, partly showing how much was under water, and how the sea water sculpts the ice surface into polished fltings and pockets.

Iceberg Icicles, Errera Channel, ANTARCTICA

On warm days in Antarctica the surfaces of icebergs are constantly melting, and as the temperature drops lines of icicles often form on the tide-line of grounded bergs.

Iceberg, ANTARCTIC SOUND

Antarctic Sound separates the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula from Joinville, d'Urville and Dundee Islands. Icebergs from the Weddell Sea drift into the sound, making it one of the most spectacular places to see them.

Neko Harbour, Andvord Bay, ANTARCTICA

Glaciers, such the one that flows into the sea at Neko Harbour, have changed drastically in recent years. This glacier is constantly calving into the sea and has retreated considerably in the past few years.

Pure Ice, SOUTH SHETLAND ISLANDS

Over hundreds of years, as glacier ice forms and matures, the air that was trapped in the surface snow gradually diffuses out and the ice crystals inside the glacier grow, eventually producing completely transparent, pure ice.

Sea-Sculpted ice surface, ANTARCTICA

Ripples, undulations and cups are the result of salt-water erosion on the underside of this washing-machine sized chunk of iceberg ice, known as a growler.

Seracs, ANTARCTIC PENINSULA

When a glacier becomes very broken it produces free-standing columns of ice (seracs). The noise of these creaking and tumbling on a still Antarctic day is awe-inspiring.

Snow flutings, Humphries Heights, ANTARCTICA

Similar to the famous snow-flutings of the Andes, these features are common on the mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula. They are formed from constant sloughing of snow during the Antarctic winter storms.

Tabular Iceberg, WEDDELL SEA

This tabular icebergs probably broke off from the Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf, and was brought to the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula by the Weddell gyr, a large, clockwise-rotating current.

Thermal notch on a rotated iceberg, ANTARCTICA

As icebergs rotate, the previous sea-levels produce thermal notches.

Tottering Iceberg, Andvord Bay, ANTARCTICA

This monster iceberg was part of a glacier tongue that had detached, complete with its own crevasse field and seracs, and had become grounded in Andvord Bay. The volume of ice below the surface is staggering, and the frequency of collapse of its sides was awe-inspiring.